In the Shire the year is winding down. Today, December 18th, begins the Yule Days, the six-day celebration of the end of the year. Tolkien writes little of the Yule Days, except to call them one of the chief holidays and a time of great feasting. One imagines that pipeweed was smoked, ale was quaffedContinue reading “On the Yule Days”
Category Archives: Tolkien
On Tengwar Fun
How would one write “Yankees Suck” in Tengwar, the Elvish alphabet from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings? It’s a good question, and I’ve had an interesting discussion with Star Trek author Geoff Trowbridge on that very point. My take on “Yankees Suck” — So, Red Sox fans out there. If you want to slamContinue reading “On Tengwar Fun”
On Long-Expected Parties
I fired up Opera this morning, looked at my own website, and there, in the sidebar, was the usual “this day in Middle-Earth” feature. And lots of things happened in Middle-Earth today. A few years ago I wrote a BASIC program to convert Gregorian dates into Shire dates. No, I can’t tell you why —Continue reading “On Long-Expected Parties”
On Balrog Wings
So, I’m reading this long and lengthy analysis on The Children of Hurin, The Silmarillion, and The History of the Hobbit, and I have but one thing to say… Balrogs have wings. Because wings look cooler. And because Peter Jackson says so. ‘Nuff said.
On Weird Waking Thoughts
I have strange thoughts as I wake up. This morning was no different. I’m writing this, just so it’s down. The Ents. What sort of metaphysical philosophy would they believe in? Do Ents have an afterlife? Do Ents believe they have an afterlife? Are they doomed to walk Middle-Earth forever, and in time be forgot?Continue reading “On Weird Waking Thoughts”
On the Need for Hobbies
Being the hot, miserable day that it is, I worked on a Word macro coding project for work I’d started (and finished–or at least got something that runs) last week, to clean up the code, strip out some redundancies, and replace a brute-force search-and-replace with a much cleaner looped search-and-replace. And then, I turned myContinue reading “On the Need for Hobbies”
On Mid-Year's Day
In the Shire, today is Mid-Year’s Day. The summer solstice. A special holiday. Go out and enjoy it. I don’t know where you, dear readers, are, but today looks to be gorgeous here in Charm City. Party like it’s 1420! Party like you’re a Hobbit!
On Future Lord of the Rings Games
EA Games has extended their license to create video and computer games based on The Lord of the Rings through 2008. A new game is in development for release in 2008, though no details have been released. The fate of Lord of the Rings: The White Council, a role-playing game set a few decades beforeContinue reading “On Future Lord of the Rings Games”
On a New Poster
About ten years ago I saw a poster I wanted. A man was walking out of a frame shop with this poster framed, and it was one of those chance encounters that just make you go, “Wow.” The poster was cool looking, it had a nice composition, and I wanted it. Only I wasn’t sureContinue reading “On a New Poster”
On The Hobbit and The White Council
I wrote a month ago about the Electronic Arts video game, Lord of the Rings: The White Council, and how reports had it that EA had pulled the plug on the game. Well, not quite. According to a news blurb at TheOneRing.net: Today, during a postearnings call, EA CFO Warren Jenson confirmed that The WhiteContinue reading “On The Hobbit and The White Council”